Fuel Cell Car

Name: Anish Roy

Class Period: 1B

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: A third of the energy used by people is used for transportation – mostly for cars, trucks, and planes. These are mostly fueled by gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, which we get from petroleum. To use another source of energy like wind, solar, or nuclear energy, the energy must be stored so that it is available on the vehicle. Rechargeable batteries are one familiar technology for storing energy for later use. Another technology uses fuel cells with hydrogen gas. How would a hydrogen-fueled car work?

Design Process: For this project, we simply shined a bright light source on the solar panel,

always keeping at least 8 inches of separation between the two to avoid any melting of the solar module plastic. After this was done we then calculated various things: Open-Circuit Voltage, Short-Circuit Current, Maximum Theoretical Power, Load Voltage, Load Current, and Load Power.

Learning Target: In this activity, your team will power a small vehicle using different power sources: a solar panel, a fuel cell, and a battery. You will use the electricity from the solar module to separate hydrogen from oxygen, harness the hydrogen, and then use the hydrogen as fuel.

Personal Reflection: This project was very helpful in helping me understand how the hydrogen fuel cell works and moreover, seeing it work in action was very influential because it amazed me that it used so many processes and was able to move. Furthermore, the use of sunlight and breadboarding intrigued me. Furthermore, the involvement of breadboarding was very nice in my opinion because it meant that I could practice with circuits, which I really like. Overall, this project was very enjoyable in that it utilized a form of basic electrical engineering to cause movement. Furthermore, the inclusion of electricity instead of just any normal force, such as in the compound machine design activity, added a bit of flair and mysteriousness as to what would occur. Additionally, I liked learning about how to use a multimeter and how electricity causes movement, furthermore, electricity was tangible to this project, so we had to learn it beforehand, and this is another reason why I liked this project, after my professional interview, I feel positively strongly about electrical engineering. However, electricity physics is very difficult, and I still don't feel that I have breadboarding down 100%, so I will continue to learn and practice how to solve electrical problems, using voltage, current, and resistance to my advantage.